The Howard County
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VOL.16, NO.1
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JANUARY 2026
Cook and learn with Chef Alba PHOTO COURTESY OF ALBA JOHNSON
LEISURE & TRAVEL
A thrilling trip through the Panama Canal isn’t the only highlight of the country page 10
JERI TIDWELL PHOTOGRAPHY
By Elias M. Taye When Chef Alba Carbonaro Johnson steps into a kitchen, she’s not just preparing food. She’s inviting her students into a story that stretches from the markets of Tunisia to the kitchens of Howard County. Johnson’s cooking classes awaken the senses: the soft sizzle of butter hitting a warm pan, the bright snap of chopped herbs, and the earthy perfume of cumin rising from a simmering sauce. At 75, the longtime cooking instructor radiates the warmth of a family matriarch and the curiosity of a lifelong traveler, creating dishes that combine her Italian roots with North African and Mediterranean flavors. “Most of my recipes come from growing up with my parents and grandparents,” said Johnson, whose Italian family lived in Tunisia. Every Sunday, her extended family gathered for long, noisy meals where everyone brought a dish. “We’d share recipes with neighbors from other countries and religions. It became a mosaic of dishes, and that stayed with me.” When Johnson’s family left Tunisia, she was only 14. They arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1962 without speaking a word of English. Her mother worked long hours, so young Alba took over the stove. “My mother would call me and tell me what to do over the phone,” she said. “I learned early, using my own taste buds to make things work with the ingredients we could find.” Couscous, for example, wasn’t easy to locate then, so her mother persuaded a neighborhood deli to import it. “Now it’s everywhere,” Johnson said. “Back then, it felt like a miracle.”
Alba Carbonaro Johnson has been teaching cooking classes through Howard County Recreation and Parks for almost 20 years. Her students say her classes are welcoming and engaging. “Food connects us,” Johnson said.
From boardroom to cutting board
For years Johnson built a corporate career at Verizon, reserving her culinary passion for holidays and family gatherings. But after she retired in 2003, her husband made a suggestion that changed everything: Why not teach cooking? “I told him, ‘Who’s going to come to my classes?’” she remembered with a grin.
After she interviewed with Howard County Recreation & Parks, she said, “five minutes later they signed me up.” That was nearly two decades ago. Today, Johnson teaches people of all ages. Her in-person and virtual classes through Howard County and at Mary’s Land Farm See CHEF ALBA, page 21
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